Wichita eagle., 1887-05-28
THE GENERALS STORY.

l. " Oll L
After dinner we took our coffee upon tn
terrace of the chatea'. Twilight bad falle,
and rising moon bea IN to light up softly
landscape wonderful, pleasing to the eye,
wood Of oaks on the LIT, a garden of flower
ing heath and bou .dless expanse of sky
The general, holding AN enormous cigar be
tween his teeth, sent forth great mouthful
and clouds of odorous vapor that mounted tt
the heavens in blush spirals. His wife
seated beside him, rolled cigarette; we were
all smoking, in fact, but nobody spoke.
The wife of the general, fully fifteen years
younger than her husband, was still q very
beautiful woman, ana more than one of II:
in the neighborhood envied the lot of the old
soldier, though we really knew nothing about
him, save what all knew, that he was rich q
gentleman and had served gallantly up to the
time he had received serious wound at the
siege of Paris, and been forced to take his re-
treat. We knew this, I say, but nothing
| more He had bou yht the chateau soon
after the war, but had occupied it only six
months, and. as this vas the first time we had
been honored with ar invitation to become
his guests, we were naturally little timid.
At last, however, thu doctor of the canton,
in other days surgeon in the army of
Africa, ventured to break the silence by ask
ing the general to tell us Of his campaigns,
or at least one of thuse little military cpl
sodes which so aid digestion He demurred
at first, but after interrogating his wife with
glance, to which she responded with an en-
couraging smile. he thus began:
Gentlemen, have any OF you ever eaten a
rabbit curried with olives? No, you have
notl Well, l am not astonished. 1t is dish
of which French cooks have never had the
recipe but possess it, and with your permits
sion will tell You where and how learned it,
1t dates far back, before had been under fire
for the first time.
"On graduating from ST. Cyr," continued
the general, II had at the outset chance to
enter the zouaves, and debarked at Algiers a
month before the first expedition to Kabylie,
for at that time our colonel did not go very
far into the enemy's country. Nevertheless,
he fretted himself continually to give a
lesson to certain tribe of F1issas that perched
into the heart Of the mountains, some fifteen
leagues above Algiers, and finally the order
was given, despite the knowledge that these
savages would fight like devils or madmen,
e1li1 tHlO tuO postum NOuFl 10 utlu W
break up. A beautiful debut for sous
lieutenant Of twenty years, and was not at
all joyous Of the prospect, perpetually asking
myself what effect the whistling of the balls
would have upon me. STILL curious as l was
to know what this effect would be, was not
at all anxious to try it.
sour first affair engaged us on the border
of river which we called the User, and
which we were forced to cross with the water
to our shoulders and the Kabyles firing upon
us from q distance. Tie balls from their
long flint guns passed directly above our
heads with a music like the singing of flutes.
But while they were firing at us in this HARM
less fashion we Unexpectedly caught them in
the plain with a troop of cavalry, and it was
truly comical sight to see them run before
our Spahis, who, without giving themselves
the trouble to saber them outright, seized
them by the tops of their burnous, and, rails
ing them as you would raise glove, left the
victim on the earth all naked. Decidedly
I said to myself, this war is very amusing
thing
"The next day, however, we had to fight
again; the Flissas had mounted to the crest Of
the mountain and there awaited us. We
bivouacked for the night at the foot of the
mountain and departed before day without
sounding the reveille. We hoped to surprise
them, but they were on their guard and from
all appearances prepared to receive us.
"For more than an hour we climbed toward
the crest by pathway fit only for goats. As
dawn commenced to whiten the sky the gun
shot of a kabyle sentinel sounded Just above
us. 1t seems to me hear it yet-the devilish
gunshot-though in the meantime have list
ened to many others, without counting the
Prussian cannonade around the walls Of
Paris. 1t thrilled me from head to foot, but
it was not for long. The captain cried: EN-
avant, my lads En- avantr and we dashed
ahead. Suddenly stumbled aud fell. / had
tripped upon the body of a man, one of my
own zouaves, Quilted by the stroke of bayo-
net and lying across the road by which we
mounted.
"Still did not stay to examine him, for
they were firing upon US from all sides, the
deadliest havoc being made in our ranks by
shots that came from cluster of novels upon
a kind of plateau covered with brushwood,
and there we fought for long time
AT last we were masters of the position,
and the kabyles in full retreat In nv own
company alone eleven men were missingAt
roll call, and toward the end of the day the
captain gave me an order to 90 and seek
them departed with a squad of zouaves,
and in due course Of time found upon the
field Of battle five dead and four wounded.
This was not my complement, however, and
In thinking II over the idea came to me that
possibly the two other missing ones remained
in the houses from which they had chased the
kabyles. The idea was good one, for az the
door Of the first house we entered found the
body Of one Of my men. / made them pick
him up, and we passed into the inclosure,
which seemed at first to be only walls The
huts of the kabyles, built without windows.
are anything but light, but when my eyes
became accustomed to the obscurity Of the
chamber, l discovered the other, ALSO a
corpse, lying at the foot of an enormous terra +
Gotta jar, where be had evidently been killed
by shot striking him full in the face They
carried him away With the Others, and, de-
lighted to have finished my duty, followed
them out
Suddenly as crossed the threshold thsrs
was the sound Of pistol slot seemingly fired
behind me in the interior of the hut we had
lust left Ny men rushed in again. and upon
he floor, at tie foot Of the jar where they
lad bu. a moment ago found the body Of
heir conIrade, they discovered their sergean;
wing in pool of blood, which oozel from a
wound in the brow made by ball Such q
hing as this was perfectly inexplcable, for
10 one was in the hut when we entered II
hort time before and no one was in il then
'All at once, as stopped to examine the
,ody, there was sudden connection. a Wild
,utcry, and the terra Gotta jar was lying Oh
Sila iefr1--fr,e, 49, - Ii